Putting words in your head

We all have certain activities in our lives that we know are good for us, when we do them we think to ourselves ‘I should do more of that’. For me in my early twenties that activity was reading. I was never much of a reader up until that point but then I started to discover the power of reading. At this time I loved reading non fiction books that educated me in the areas I was passionate about. I would read a book and find that it would inspire me to new levels. The problem was that as much as I knew I loved reading books it was a habit that I found hard to maintain in my everyday life. I would have all the intensions of spending thirty minutes reading everyday but it hardly ever happened. At this time I was probably reading around 4-6 books a year.

This was also when I started competing in endurance sport. Suddenly I found myself with training sessions that would last up to eight hours, which can seem like forever when you are out there by yourself. At first I tried to develop mind games to keep myself motivated but I wasn’t really winning that battle as I would often cut my sessions short or not work to the intensity that I was aiming for. After trying a few different strategies I ended up buying an ipod which opened me up to podcast and not long after that audiobooks.

I remember once talking to Scott Molina, a legendary former triathlon world champ, and he told me that he thought that the ipod was the best technological tool for improving training. I couldn’t agree more. Those long rides and runs, which had always been a struggle and were something I dreaded, suddenly became the thing I would look forward to in my day as I was excited about the content that I would be consuming. The podcasts and audiobooks allowed me to train at a higher standard which made me a better athlete.

Now days two of my good habits are working together, when I’m out training I’ll be listening to an audiobook and getting my heart rate up at the same time. While I used to read 4-6 books a year now I get to consume close to 30 which makes me a better athlete and a more inspired person.

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